Trai recommends govt to fund 100MB data per month for rural consumers

After barring contentious programmes like Facebook's Free Basics and Airtel Zero, telecom regulator Telecom Authority of India (Trai) recently recommended that the government should fund around 100 megabytes (MB) of data per month for rural consumers, and mooted introduction of third-party platforms to provide free Internet in a non-discriminatory manner to promote digital economy.

The regulator has given clean chit to model of providing data credit in subscriber's account as reward if it is structured in a manner that is open and non-discriminatory.

In order to bridge the affordability gap for the persons residing in rural areas and to support government's efforts towards cashless economy by incentivising digital means, the Authority recommends that a scheme under which a reasonable amount of data, say 100 MB per month, may be made available to rural subscribers for free, Trai said.

Trai estimates 100MB free data for 50 million rural subscribers in a month would cost Rs 600 crore. The regulator has suggested that the cost of implementation of the scheme may be met from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF)-- which is meant to promote telecom services in rural areas.

Under USOF, the government charges a cess in the form of Universal Access Levy, from telecom licencees to fund setting up of telecom infrastructure in all uncovered rural and remote areas of the country. MobiKwik COO Mrinal Sinha said,

It is a good start. Anything sustains if subscribers understand its value and then they start paying for it. With 100MB of data, our wallet user can make thousands of transactions, which is more than enough.

For third-party aggregator platforms, the regulator has cautioned the data through aggregator should not be designed to circumvent 'The Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulations' which bars operators from entering into exclusive pacts with Internet companies to subsidise their access. However, net neutrality volunteers see loophole in Trai's aggregator model and feel that it leaves room for zero rating model.

Internet Freedom Foundation Co-founder Nikhil Pahwa said,

Government subsidising data for subscribers is a great step. However, aggregator model would lead to violation of differential pricing regulation. Whether you give data back immediately or later, it will be same a zero rating platform.

Zero-rating is a term that is generally used to describe schemes that provide free access to data services for subscribers of a particular service provider for accessing specific content.

Also read : TRAI to impose Rs 3,050 cr fine on Airtel, Voda, Idea for denying connectivity to Jio

Trai in February barred differential pricing on Internet which ended services of platforms like Facebook's Free Basics and Airtel Zero. The regulator also released a consultation paper in May where it explored the reward model, toll free model, Direct Money Transfer Model for provision of free data services.